Miracles do happen when we are patient on the Lord

This week I was on intercambios (exchanges) with Elder Nuñez. We had one of our appointments fall through and we were walking to our backup plan when we saw a man that I had seen a few weeks before. This man had found Elder Forrest and I in the back of one of the travel trucks right before we were going to go to one of our pueblos (little towns). He asked us for a Book of Mormon because he was interested in reading it- but he didn't want to talk yet. We had seen him another time and talked just a little bit about the Book of Mormon with him and he had said that again he wanted to wait to talk for another time. So this week- walking with Elder Nuñez- we found him again and invited him to talk in the church with us. He had already read a few chapters of the Book of Mormon and had a pretty good understanding of what it was. 
We have now taught he and his wife the first lesson- They have excepted baptism for the 24th of September- and they came to church yesterday! It was awesome! We had 6 investigators in church yesterday- and 3 of them were coming for the first time! We are so excited to see how well everything is progressing!
Love you all! Elder Dazey

Family Home Evenings Work!

HI everyone! We had a 14 year less active family allow us to have a family home evening with them- and then they came to church. It was awesome! The children of the family- who are now adults- barely remember anything about the gospel- and one of them live with his girlfriend- and she is really receptive :D It's so awesome! We have had a lot of rain lately. The pictures are from a zone activity we had this week. I LOVE YOU MUCHO!

More Miracles!!

Things weren't going too great - one of our best investigators-Marco- dropped us. Right after we went to visit a young investigator named Luis. He hasn't received permission from his parents to be baptized. His Mom said he could be- so we quickly got the interview organized again. I woke up the day of the interview- and I felt sick- I felt SO TIRED. I felt horrible-I had felt tired the day before- and I was almost in tears wondering if this was going to be the way I would feel every morning for the rest of my mission. I thought about some things I could do for my health- and I asked for a blessing from my companion and the zone leaders. My companion gave me a wonderful blessing- and I have felt great since. I went from fear to faith and I fixed my eyes on Christ.
We have had straight miracle days since Thursday! New investigators, less active families that we didn't know about that have some family members that can get baptized. We have gotten free rides- miracle contacts and timing for everything has been perfectly planned by God and down to the second. We are SO EXCITED! Elder Iglesias is already saying that this is one of his favorite areas. I love the work - Honestly I am so happy- and I am also happy because I know that up till now I have given it all that I have had- and I will have no regrets about my mission. The family home evenings are still giving fruits- and we are still going back with those investigators that we have found during them- things are going great. 

Love,

Elder Dazey

Patience and love for those who chose not to continue.

 I have had a great week.We have had lots of meetings.We are helping to build a kitchen out of adobe for some members from our branch. Our investigators are going well :D Sadly- Marco left us and we are now working with doing family home evenings- the members showed up to the family home evenings and we have been working really well with them :D  We have now done everything that my companion will need to know how to do and he is doing well :D Right now I was studying about gaining power in the Priesthood from a talk by President Nelson in the last conference. It was really cool- and I have been trying to strengthen my faith even more :D Thanks for the birthday present Mom! And tell Pap-pap thanks too! I LOVE YOU TOO MOM!

Working and Serving!

 I am working as the district leader in a district of 8 missionaries. We cover the District of Ignacio Mejia.

We have 4 pueblos we work in. Teotitlan, Tilapa, Los cues, Tecomavaca. We are almost done with the kitchen we are helping to build in Tecomavaca, and we still have to close a house where missionaries left. There are not that many interesting places to visit- but it is cool. I hope band camp goes well! It sounds like it is pretty hot.

Things are going great here. President is having us work with the branch in order to have family home evenings with all of the less active members and with that we are finding new investigators :D We are really excited. I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH.

-Elder Dazey

Second to last Transfer!

Things are going well in my area. we are working hard and I am getting a new companion. Elder Forrest will be training in another Zone and Ignacio Mejia Zone (My current zone) will be a district of another zone- so I won't be a zone leader anymore- but I'll have the whole old zone in my district- so my responsabilities won't change at all because I'll still be in charge of the District (District is both a missionary organization of like 4-10 missionaries and the word is also used to describe a "stake" of many branches instead of wards) So I'll be the leader of the missionary district of 8 and I will have to communicate with the Branch Presidents and give a report to the District President of the "stake district." I hope that that made sense :D
Anyway- We have to get going. I am going to meet up with Elder Iglesias- my new comp- I also have to prepare him to basically do Zone leader stuff as a district leader for when he is the district leader.
Anyway, I love you guys!
-Elder Dazey

Visiting new places

You guys are awesome! God makes his righteous families prosper- we just need to be constantly living the gospel. If we LIVE the gospel we will be able to sing the song of redeeming Love and always remember our Savior. Can we feel so now? YES WE CAN! - sorry I don't have much time. We went to a pueblo that is high in the mountains- it was cool. It reminded me of our mountains back home. To explain the pictures, Isanami is the guy that went with us. He is a cool guy from our branch. Huatla is this lady that was the first to use mushrooms as a drug or something- so yeah...weird pictures.

The Mission is the Preparation for Life

I think everyone get's pretty tired towards the end of their mission and I was just reading in my Patriarchal blessing and it says twice the exact same phrase. Once talking about missionary work in my life- and the other time about service and leadership in the church. It says the same words both times - "Know that the Lord has much work for you to do." I pondered that for half of my study. It says the same words TWICE. God commands me at the beginning- "Know." Know this Elder Dazey- The Lord has much work for you to do. 

 So I have much work to do- says the Lord. I am not to be a missionary just right now- but forever- and this was just kind of the training. If I feel tired now- then I don't really understand what is ahead. I need to "know." President Eyring gave a talk about acting in all diligence-
  "When I find myself drawn away from my priesthood duties by other interests and when my body begs for rest, I give to myself this rallying cry: “Remember Him.” The Lord is our perfect example of diligence in priesthood service. He is our captain. He called us. He goes before us. He chose us to follow Him and to bring others with us...From the cross on Calvary, the Savior announced, “It is finished.”¹¹ Then His spirit left His body, and His mortal remains were placed lovingly in a tomb. He taught us a lesson by what He did in three days in the spirit world, before His Resurrection, which I remember whenever I am tempted to feel that I have finished some hard task in His service and deserve a rest. -President Eyring

   I can't give up- and I will not. Therefore I do not expect a rest when I get home. Missionaries call returning home "dying." If I am to "die" than I shall do as my Captain- and I will keep working even when I am dead. I do not expect life to be easy when I come home- and I did not and do not expect you all to have changed. I love you all very much- and It is only possible to progress together as a family. My work as a missionary will not be done- ever- As part of still being a missionary I will be expected to keep the same purpose- Inviting people to come unto Christ should be engraved on my heart. Therefore- I will- no matter the condition of my own family upon coming home- do everything in my power to not lose that vision- and invite you all- and everyone else to come unto Christ. I was - as many- born to bring the world His Truth. You need not be ashamed of imperfections, Mom- We all have our trials. Elder Holland taught us the remedy to this. 

"First of all, if in the days ahead you not only see limitations in those around you but also find elements in your own life that don’t yet measure up to the messages you have heard this weekend, please don’t be cast down in spirit and don’t give up. The gospel, the Church, and these wonderful semiannual gatherings are intended to give hope and inspiration. They are not intended to discourage you. Only the adversary, the enemy of us all, would try to convince us that the ideals outlined in general conference are depressing and unrealistic, that people don’t really improve, that no one really progresses. And why does Lucifer give that speech? Because he knows he can’t improve,he can’t progress, that worlds without end he will never have a bright tomorrow. He is a miserable man bound by eternal limitations, and he wants you to be miserable too. Well, don’t fall for that. With the gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the strength of heaven to help us, we can improve, and the great thing about the gospel is we get credit for trying, even if we don’t always succeed....
   Please remember tomorrow, and all the days after that, that the Lord blesses those who want to improve, who accept the need for commandments and try to keep them, who cherish Christ-like virtues and strive to the best of their ability to acquire them. If you stumble in that pursuit, so does everyone; the Savior is there to help you keep going. If you fall, summon His strength. Call out like Alma, “O Jesus, … have mercy on me.”⁷ He will help you get back up. He will help you repent, repair, fix whatever you have to fix, and keep going. Soon enough you will have the success you seek." -Elder Holland (Tommorow  The World will do wonders Among You- 2016 April Conference)

   My companion and I had just had a long conversation about different subjects that helped me understand what God wanted to say to me. We talked about how God does not "remember" our sins after we repent (D an C 58: 42). I can't say that what I am about to say is doctrine but I believe that God still has the knowledge of our sins- but chooses not to remember. There are only two purposes of remembering- progression and helping others progress. God only remembers if it will help us learn. He has all knowledge and cannot learn anything- his progression is in creation of new worlds. So too, if we are to be as God- we must remember something to progress, and we must remember to help others progress- if not- we should choose not to remember. Not forget- because we can't and won't- but choose not to remember. So if we must repent. Let us do it- with our "want" to improve as Elder Holland says. Afterwards- Let us remember Lot's Wife- and chose not to remember our tainted past.

   I invite you all to put one goal to complete with the will of GOD in some way before I come home. It can be anything. I only invite you to be diligent- and to do it with a smile :D Will you do it? I love you all and I know that things can look hard- but don't worry- God knows that we are imperfect and he will be patient. You will find blessings in doing the little things that lead us to God.

Also- God told me in my Patriarchal blessing "You have been born into a righteous home." and it talks a lot about you two as my parents, how much you love me, and how I should honor you. You are the best parents I could imagine- and you have made a righteous home for us as your children. I am eternally and completely grateful for all that you have given me. I don't have that much time to explain it all- But I pondered on that this week also. Thanks :D I LOVE YOU. I am grateful that God could give me two of his most chosen, hard-working angels to be my parents.

Love,

Elder Dazey

PS> We had 4 investigators at church this week :D

15 Less Actives in Sacrament Meeting!

4TH OF JULY! We have two branches that are in our area, so one of them has a river nearby. Both have fonts but we went to the river :D That was the only one we've done in the river. Our investigators are going great. We found some new investigators this week and Miguel- one of them- accepted baptism. A young man named Luis is getting baptized soon- though he has had problems with his parent not supporting him. My companion and I are getting along great :D I do like it here! There is just protesting in Oaxaca. Teachers have been closing up the roads and stuff in demonstration- But we're all good- You guys could look it up if you want. Not much happens in our pueblo though. The zone is going great. We are completing some good goals :D

   We are working hard. We got a lot of our goals done and we are pretty happy. We got 2 investigators and 15 less actives in Sacrament meeting :D We are hopeful that more investigators will come to church next week.

We had a really good lesson with one of our investigators to help her choose to live the law of Chastity- Her name is Claudia. We teach a lot of lessons in a week.

We had a meeting with the district president and the mission counselor, and we had a Zone training meeting. 

Things are good. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA.

Love,

Elder Dazey

It's all about service!

To answer a bunch of your questions: I think I fainted because I got nauseous from my leg popping- and who knows what else. There are no spaces between houses in cities. We pay a lot to get on trucks to travel from town to town. Elder Forrest is from Arizona. I have no problem understanding the different accents here in the pueblito. The baptism was good- He was really happy. He had to get separated from his girlfriend to get baptized but he did it last week. His name is Dario :D Our house has 2 rooms and a study room with a kitchen. I say that it is nicer that a lot of houses here just because it is painted and has nice flooring and a good bathroom- not everyone here has that.  :D I will continue to work hard Mom- I had a great interview with President this week. I asked him what he would like to see me do before the end of my mission and he told me that one of the greatest things we can do is always help and uplift others. He said that people will never forget the acts of kindness that you do. I love the manual from President Hunter this year. I love the chapters called-"true greatness", and "they didn't give less service" I've really been trying to apply these principles and I invite you all to read these two chapters about selfless service and just give your all for other people :D That's what we're here for, right? 

I love you guys! Keeps a smile on :D

-Elder Dazey

All about my new location- letter from 6/20/16

It's really cool! There are little stores here- but basically no big businesses. Everyone's house are very puebloish and there are spaces between houses and we ride trucks to get to other pueblitos. I didn't get sick because of the area- although I did go to the doctor. I thought I had a hernia but I didn't- all is good- just a muscle inflamtion. Also I fainted while I was planning with my companion- like that one time in high school. But I'm fine :D

His name is Elder Forrest. We have a lot in common. He's a really cool guy :D My area is called Teotitlán and IS in Oaxaca. Our mission has part of the state of Oaxaca in it. The people are nice here. Their accents are a little different. It's not that weird being far away. Church was good. We have a medium sized branch. Our investigator pool is really nice. There is a little girl getting baptized on tuesday (She is 8- but her parents are less active so we are just helping her get baptized) Dario will get baptized sunday once he's not living with his girlfriend. And Luis- who I haven't met yet- is 13 and will get baptized on Saturday. My companion only has one transfer here. The building is a normal mexican church building- just a smaller one. Our house is really nice compared to everyone elses.

I probably wouldn't let them play League of Legends if I were you. It's just like that game I used to play that had like 45 minute long games and it is SUPER ADDICTIVE. Like World of Warcraft level addictiveness.

   Thanks Mom. I'll work hard. Thanks for everything. You guys are the best.

Love,

Elder Dazey

Transferred to My First Pueblito! (very small town) -letter from 6/13/16

I am being tranfered to my first pueblito. Teotitlan. I'll be a zone leader of a 10 elder zone :D Thanks Mom! I know Heavenly Father is looking out for me. I have to go. I have 5-6 hours of traveling today :D LOVE YOU!

-Elder Dazey

After our Faith will come the Miracle -letter from 6/06/2016

Well this week has gone well. We have been working to find new investigators. We have contacted a lot of references- hopefully we'll get some good results out of that. Things are going well. We don't have a baptism soon, but there are a lot of miracles that come after a drought :D The mission has actually been low on baptism, so hopefully we can do what we have to to help it out. 

A few of our investigators dropped us this week. It's been kind of a long week. we have a lot to do. We walked a lot this week. 

I LOVE YOU GUYS. I HOPE THAT THINGS ARE GOING WELL. I PRAY FOR YOU EVERY DAY. KEEP WORKING HARD. KEEP BEING FAITHFUL. REPENT EVERY DAY. SMILE :D 

Elder French and are are happy to be here :D things are going great :D

We will have transfers next week. I'm still not sure what will happen. they'll tell us. 

LOVE YOU GUYS! 

-Elder Dazey

New Shoes from Great amounts of work! -Elder Dazey's letter from 5/30/16

We had an electromagnetic pulse go through last week. It was freaky. It turned off all of our electronic devices except for my phone- but it did turn off my companion's phone. Tell Bradley I love him :D And give my cuñada(sister-in-law) and my sobrina(niece) big hugs for me ;D I LOVE YOU TOO MOM. Did you know that my patriarchal blessing tells me to be of good cheer and know that God and my parents love me? I LOVE YOU.

Anyway- things are going well. I actually have made it through another set of soles on all three of my pairs of shoes- so I through out two pairs, fixed one, and bought another. It was about 950 pesos that I spent (Like 50 bucks)

This week was nice. We spent a day helping some sisters in our zone find people to teach and that was cool. We did a lot of random service this week. Actually there was this one lady that my companion helped carry her bags- and she is a great investigator. Her name is Andrea and she loves the gospel. We already taught her Lessons 1 and 2. 

Marco Antonio- my last convert- studies in the scriptures 2 hours a day and is still in high school. He's going great. actually all of my converts in this area have stayed REALLY active in the church. They are really awesome. Marco should be getting a calling soon. He goes out with us to do a lot of visits. 

Adar- the son of the Bishop goes out with us a lot because he will be leaving in July for his mission in Torreon. The Bishop and his wife actually came with us to do some visits yesterday. The Bishop's wife was actually asking recently about what Thanksgiving is like. I explained it to her and she said that she would really like to see what it is like- so I invited their family to thanksgiving sometime. (I hope that's okay ;D ) Their really awesome.

We have been doing well. The work is still going well. We are hoping to have baptisms soon :D

ANYWAY. I LOVE YOU GUYS. BESOS. (kisses)

Elder Dazey

Meteor!

Well things have been going well. We have been going still with some of the old investigators that the other Elders had. Sadly our baptism from last week fell through, but we will have it soon probably. The thing is that Fany's boyfriend made her think that she isn't ready to get baptized. We're kind of upset with him. But it will be fine In other news we had a meteor hit Puebla. I was in exchanges so I didn't see it, but apparently it fell at like 3 in the morning and my comp woke up and saw it. Apparently, it shook the whole house and lit up everything.

This week we had a ton of stuff to do. Last Monday we had a zone activity that we had to plan and get rolling. We did "minute to win it." And then on Tuesday we had to give our zone training meeting. On Wednesday we had to give a presentation to the Stake President about our Zone and we had to do it without President Stellmon because we got their late because our taxi picked us up really late. On Thursday we had our weekly planning session, on Friday exchanges with a district leader and on Saturday we did divisions so that my companion could go talk to an investigator that I had already talked to from another area. (He had to go because this guy is a big baby and did not like me after I was with him- but I was not hard on him at all) So my comp came back kind of freaked out because apparently that guy was really mean and had looked up anti-Mormon stuff and just talked really bad about the church and how he did not want to get baptized. (He isn't exactly a good guy- but we were going for a last chance rescue mission) So yesterday we had to do divisions again because we had a lot of appointments and then one of the brothers didn't come so we had to get someone last minute and hit up a few appointments. Then I talked a little bit with the ward mission leader about things we could do to get the ward moving with missionary work. It was a fun week-exhausting- but fun. Anyway I LOVE YOU MOM. WE'LL KEEP WORKING HARD :D

Love, Elder Dazey

Short but Sweet

Well- we had a zone activity today and we have a lot of stuff coming up to do. We had a lesson last night with a new investigator and she asked if the church that Christ made really exists and we said yes and she said WOW. That's cool!” So that was fun. We had Colombian food this week :D To answer your questions about the weather, No Monsoons yet! :D

Love,

Elder Dazey

Skyping and April Fools!

     When we skyped Elder Dazey on Mother’s Day, he told us about how Marco was able to get baptized even though his mom had been against it. Apparently, during one of their lessons with him where his mom was present, she asked, “If he were to get baptized, would he be allowed to visit my Catholic mass with me every once in a while?” and the Elders said that yes, that would be ok. And she said, ”Oh! I thought that he wouldn’t be able to! Well, in that case, yes, he can be baptized into your church.” (and so he was!)

     We also found out that Elder Dazey and his companion had a lot of fun on April Fools Day! They, as Zone Leaders, decided to prank their Zone. So they called around to the different companionships and told them that their was emergency transfers and that they needed to get packed up quickly! Of course they let them know that they were joking, eventually. And then, they decided that they wanted to prank their Mission President! So they thought about something that would sound believable and they called him up right as it was the normal time that they would be leaving to go out and work. They have a spiral staircase in their apartment and so when Elder Dazey called the President, he said “President, on our way out this morning, my companion fell down the spiral staircase and I’m pretty sure that he broke his leg!” The mission president was all worried and asked what hospital he was taking him to. And Elder Dazey said, “Well, the good news is that it’s April Fools Day!” And the president said that that didn’t matter, what hospital was he taking him to! And Elder Dazey repeated that it was April Fools Day. And the Mission President said, “Elder Dazey, do you think this is funny?” And he said, “ Well, yes, I did.” And the Mission President responded with, “Well then, GAME ON!”

Three weeks went by and Elder Dazey and his companion got a call from a companionship that they knew were having problems. And the Elder told them that his disobedient companion had gotten mad and walked out of the apartment alone and he had no idea where he had gone! Elder Dazey and his comp started forming a plan as to how they would find this Elder and they called up the Assistants to the President to let them know what was going on. They didn’t believe Elder Dazey, saying this was probably another prank like on April Fools Day and hung up on them. So they called the President. They told him what was going on and he listened. He asked them what was their plan for finding this lost Elder and they told him that they were going to call the companion back and form a search party. And the President said, “Well, before you call him back, do you remember a call you made to me 3 weeks ago?” And they responded sheepishly that they did. And he said, “Well, this is PAYBACK!” he laughed. They were stunned. They’d been pranked back and more and never saw it coming!

**Since we just skyped him, his letter was short this week.

  I hope that things keep going well. I have had a good week this week. The other Elders from our ward moved to another ward so we have the whole ward to ourselves. We have basically been working on taking care of both sides. We picked up a lot of work from them and will, hopefully have a lot of baptisms coming up soon. We will need to work hard to keep everything going. We had our leadership meeting on Friday and we just set up the plan for the Zone on Saturday with the Sister Training Leaders. I love you guys a lot. I hope that things keep going well!

Love,

Elder Dazey

Just a quick note

Not much time to write since there were transfers today. We just did that ALL DAY. We are now typing. I still have the same Companion. Same Area.

 I'm glad my new little niece came out healthy. She's so cute!

To answer your question, the volcano has done nothing else. Here are some pictures from Marco's baptism. 

Love,

Elder Dazey

Miracles!

So We have been working with Marco- the investigator that was supposed to get baptized this last Sunday. We are still working with him- the thing is is that his Mom doesn't want him to get baptized yet because he is 16. So we got to his house and we have a rule in the mission where we can't go into a house unless there is a man there. We were thinking about doing the lesson outside of the house but it was raining really hard and hailing. We stood underneath a balcony while we waited for it to calm down. We were wet and cold. We were wondering what we could do- It was a really important cita (appointment). We started talking about commanding the storm to stop in the name of Christ. We were thinking about it- but we also didn't want to do it without a prompting. Nothing else was working. No one was coming. I told my companion that we should command the storm to stop. I told him- If it is the will of God- It will stop, if not, it won't. If we command and it is his will- it will stop. So we did. It didn't stop. we waited. A man came out of the door of the house in front of us- neighbor to our investigator's house. He told us to come in to get out of the rain. God wanted us to teach him. We talked and taught and gave him a Book of Mormon, with some reluctance on his part. As we ended the lesson, the storm stopped. He didn't want us to come back- he wasn't that interested- But God planted a seed. God set it up. That was his will. We had the appointment with our other investigator outside- now that God had subsided the storm. 
God sends Miracles.
I love you- I won't have time to type the other experiences. 
-Elder Dazey

A Better Week!

     BABY! I am having a GOOD WEEK. MUCHAS MAS LECCIONES (Many more lessons!)- 9 lessons with members present and five other lessons! We are KILLIN IT! In answer to your question, my companion and I are super chums. J The Zone leadership meeting we held was a good meeting- we basically just presented what President wanted us to.

     I have slacked a bit in the Old testament-I've been doing The Book of Mormon this week- I'm trying to learn a basic summary of every chapter of the book.  

     Today for our Pday activity, we went up the pyramid! It was cool. We went up this part that was excavated- who knows if we were supposed to go up, but it wasn't roped up- so it was fun :D

Love, Elder Dazey

And the work goes on.

Anyway this week has been good. We had our interviews and they went well. We had our activity today and we will have a training meeting tomorrow. Things have been going good. We haven't had many lessons with investigators-it seems like not that many people are home. Anyway. I loved General Conference. Sadly I've been kinda sick these last few days- so I didn't exactly get everything that I could have out of conference weekend. but it was awesome! We are working- but we are sadly seeing Satan working in our area too. We'll think about how we can serve even better. Anyway. I hope that everything has gone great with you guys. 

LOVE,

Elder Dazey

Learning the Atonement of Christ

We had a lesson with a new family that we are teaching and we put some baptismal dates with them. 

    They didn't even talk about Easter in church. I actually heard no one say anything about Easter. I find it pretty strange :( I gave a talk on the Atonement. 

Well, we are working a lot more with the members. We didn't have a lot of lessons this week with investigators- but hopefully this next week we will.

   We'll be praying and working hard. I'm glad that I am still in this area. Elder French and I are getting along well. I'm glad that I can keep going here. Hopefully everything keeps going well.

I love to get to know Christ on my mission. I've seen how he is through others and how he acts through me. He's helped me change-many times-with many things-big and little. I hope that you have all been able to see the power of the atonement working every day in your lives. My talk was about how the Atonement strengthens us. I imagine the atonement is in a certain way- that he appears in our spot right when we were about to sin- and although the temptation is hard-he doesn't sin. He lived and felt ever temptation- every addiction- every contentious argument- he felt and overcame the hardest situation- the same situation where we sin- and then that knowledge reaches through the eternities to us in the very moment when it is actually happening. He reaches out and tells us through the spirit what we have to do-how to overcome- because he already did it- almost 2000 years ago. He knows what it's like. He knows what to do because he did it- because he took on every situation- there is no human weakness that he has not felt- no sin that was not presented before him to be committed. He suffered it all. It is just on us to use what he has given. How often will you do it?

I hope that this Easter has been beautiful for you- I hope that everyone has felt his spirit and put new goals to become more like him- more like he who took on every burden.

I love you guys.

-Elder Dazey

The Lord Always Provides

Everything is going great. My companion has actually been a Zone Leader longer than I have. He was in the MTC at the same time as me. He was just in Elder Cook's district. The work is going great. We had a zone goal to get 5 new investigators and teach them all about baptism and invite them to baptism and we weren't completing the goal. We only had 1 new investigator. A lot of our appointments had fallen through and we were worried about being able to get the goal. We had just watched two appointments fall through yesterday when we decided to go back with a reference we had contacted. We started talking to the lady there and she didn't seem really excited to hear a message, so her mom came up and she was this old lady and I just thought "It's going to be even less likely with her because usually the old people are super Catholic." However, to my surprise she came out to talk in front of her house with Elder French and I. We invited her to invite her family to listen to us too and she got them all out there. We got 6 new investigators. We began to talk about lesson 3- Faith Repentance and Baptism and they were all intently listening and we felt the spirit really strong. We invited them to baptism and they accepted. 

   My health is good. I weigh 188 pounds...I think I'll have to get myself on a diet too. GENERAL CONFERENCE. GET PSYCHED   

   We have gotten a previous zone leader and a previous assistant in our zone- we're pretty excited.

Anyway, I love you guys! Pray for us.

Love,

Elder Dazey

New Companion!

I hope that it keeps going well! The zone leaders have transfers early this time- So Elder Cook is going to another zone as a zone leader and I am receiving Elder French- He's really cool so we should have fun. 

This week has been good. We got some new investigators and we helped out some missionaries.

   We had a special conference with the Zone Leaders on Thursday. President talked about having faith and following the spirit and about focusing on baptizing. So as Zone Leaders we all need to baptize someone else in March! This is pretty crazy. I'll get working with Elder French on that. Anyway. I have to get going. Love you!

Elder Dazey

The Work will Move Forward at the Speed WE are prepared to move

    Well this week has gone well. We had a baptism on Saturday with Hector. He just had back surgery so we had to put a patch over his surgery so that water wouldn't get in and get it wet. But it all went well! We thought that not many people were going to come because we have been really busy with things this week and we didn't have much time to invite many people to the baptism- but we got a nice group there. We've just been running around doing a bunch of stuff. Helping Elders and working in a much farther part of our area. It hasn't been my favorite week.

   President in our Zone Conference told us that one of the area 70 asked him if his mission was ready to get 500 baptisms a month. President said that he didn't think we were ready. So the 70 responded and said that he doesn't think that the members are ready either. So president wants us to start preparing for that.

   Elder Cook and I are starting to elaborate a plan to work with the members better. It is based on the Importance of Members section in chapter 9 of Preach my Gospel. The plan is basically to help them and prepare them to be the kind of member missionaries that can help us get 10 baptisms a month. It is kind of a long term plan- but basically we are focusing on inviting them to come unto Christ and helping them have a conversion from member to member missionary. Basically it consists in steps very similar to steps that one would take to prepare an investigator for baptism. 
1. Gain their Trust (Service, Love, Obedience, Interest in their lives, and teaching them the Doctrine of Christ)
2. Strengthening their Faith (L1, L2, L3- with a big focus on lesson 3, helping them remember their conversion experience)
3. Inviting them to repent by teaching them tactics and inviting them to do them. ("Andar haciendo bienes", Keep doing well, Ayuno y oracion por la obra, fast and pray for the work, Cultivar amistades nuevas, cultivate new friendships, Abrir la boca,open your mouths, Invitar a amigos,invite friends, Maestros orientadores, teach investigators, Su ejemplo personal, be a good example, Hermanamiento, brotherhood, enseñar a los demás )teach everyone.
Basically we are going to try to convert them into a new way of thinking and into members who don't have fear to do the work. I think that once we have a bunch of members like this and we can figure out the best way to organize our schedules with them- that is when we will be baptizing 10 a month- so we are going to start preparing our area for that.

   Hopefull, we can put it to work well. It's going to take a while. We are excited for it though. I'm loving the mission Mom. There was a new Missionary that left our ward to go to Brazil this week. He stopped by our house in the morning to say goodbye. Elder Chichia. We are really excited for him.

Anyway I'm going to stop writing. iI LOVE YOU GUYS A LOT!

-Elder Dazey